Matt Zeitlin

I defended Ann Coulter’s comments about Christians being “perfected Jews” because that is one of the most basic tenets of Christianity.  I will not, however, defend fellow Jews Debbie Schlussel’s hateful Nazi-baiting of George Soros:

Contrast that with the villain here: Media Matters. It’s anti-American, anti-Israel, and funded by George Soros, a Jew who proudly worked for the Nazis rounding up Jews and sending them to their deaths. Hmmm . . . him versus Ann Coulter? That’s an easy choice. I’d much rather go with the woman who looks like an Aryan but is a friend to the Jews and their allies than the billionaire atheist Jew who’s lived his entire life like a Nazi.

Since when was it OK to call a Holocaust survivor a Nazi? This is not the first time Schlussel has promoted this hateful lie; she  also has this charming post, where she claims that Soros “is a fake Holocaust survivor, who–instead of “surviving” the Holocaust–helped the Nazis perpetrate it.”  Later on, she calls Soros a “jewish nazi.”

This is a popular line of attack for those who find Soros’ atheism, wealth and liberalism offensive.  They claim that because Soros, when he was fourteen, pretended to be the godson of the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and unwittingly participated in the confiscation of some Jewish property this means that he was a Nazi collaborator.  In the twisted mind of Schlussel and her fellow haters, the desperate actions of fourteen year old to survive amidst the mass extermination of his entire religious group, makes him a “Jewish Nazi” and a “fake Holocaust survivor.”

This smear of Soros is worse than anything Coulter has said  and is common currency among much of the right.  Again, “fake holocaust survivor” “Jewish Nazi” “lived his entire life like a Nazi” – these are all direct quotes from Schlussel.   This is a man who has devoted his life to the ideals of Karl Popper: liberalism and open societies, and has opposed Israeli expansionism and George Bush.   For daring to disagree with neoconservative foreign policy and be Jewish at the same time, the conservative Sanhedrin has promoted this libelous and offensive line of attack against a Holocaust survivor.  They have no shame.

Soros cleared up this smear at TNR  in February:

I need to set the record straight. In 1944, when the Nazis occupied Hungary, my father arranged false identities for his family. He placed me with an official of the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture who claimed that I was his godson. In return, my father arranged a false identity for the official’s Jewish wife. In my capacity as 14-year-old godson, I accompanied the official on a trip to inventory the estate of a wealthy Jewish family that had fled the country. That is the episode “60 Minutes” quizzed me about in the interview that Peretz quotes. In the same interview I also said “I had no role in taking away that property.”